Riding Yorkshire's Final Steam Trains

by Keith Widdowson

  LNER K1

  LNER J27

  WD Aus

  BR 9F

  43123

  60145 Saint Mungo

  60831

  61017 Bushbuck, 61035 Pronghorn, 61218

  62012, 62046, 62065

  65894

  90254, 90347, 90395, 90517

  92231

  15

  Stored

  LMS 4MT

  LNER V2

  LNER B1

  WD Aus

  43126

  60886

  61218

  90518

  4

  We now move to York where later that morning Peppercorn-designed 2-6-0 K1 62028 was on empty coaching stock (ECS) duties. All seventy members of this class were built at North British – this 1949 example being withdrawn that November.

  With planned steam haulages not materialising a compensatory bash of York MPD was undertaken. The end looks near for York’s 17-year-old K1 62012 with her chimney being covered with sacking. Despite appearances she was to survive a further year, ending her days at Sunderland in May 1967.

  Looking somewhat forlorn, 43-year-old Darlington built J27 65894 was to become one of the final five being withdrawn at Sunderland in September 1967. However, fortune shone upon her and having survived into preservation she is now on static display at a Darlington museum.

  The only Peppercorn-designed LNER 4-6-2 A1 I witnessed in service was 60145 Saint Mungo. This Darlington-built 17-year-old 8P had sporadically rescued a few trains on the ECML due to diesel failures and in December 1965 had powered a special ‘end of class’ outing to Newcastle and back. Although she was in a line of dead locomotives the official withdrawal date was documented as being the following month. I had to wait thirty-four years before I obtained a run with an A1, courtesy of the 2008-constructed 60163 Tornado.

  Between 1943 and 1946 a total of 733 of these Riddles-designed War Department 2-8-0s, nicknamed ‘Dub-dees’, were built for use both here and in northern Europe to ‘get things going’ after the devastation of the war. Here 22-year-old North British-built 90395 appears to be receiving works attention at her home shed. She was subsequently transferred to Sunderland, being withdrawn there six months later.

  A total of 162 of these Ivatt-designed LMS 4MT 2-6-0 locomotives were built – 43071 being at Darlington in 1950. She was transferred to Blyth and was withdrawn from there in March 1967.

  There was nothing quite like a steam shed for atmosphere. Horwich-built ‘Flying Pig’ 43123 is seen surrounded by all the detritus of a working shed. This site is now occupied by the National Railway Museum.

  Another wonderful vista from a bygone age as four home shed allocated locomotives from four different classes surround the turntable. From left to right we have: 92006, a 1954 Crewe-built Riddles-designed 2-10-0 (a total of 251 being constructed between 1954 and 1960) which ended her days at Wakefield eleven months later; then WD 90078 and B1 61017 Bushbuck – both not seeing the year out – and finally fresh from station pilot duties K1 62028.

  The front cover of an EP given to me one Christmas.

  Although the majority of V2s remaining in Britain were NER based the only one I caught a run with was Dundee’s 60813 – seen here after arrival at Edinburgh Waverley on 13 August 1966 with the 09 10 Summer Saturday Dundee Tay Bridge to Blackpool North. Having targeted alleged V2-operated services during both summers of ’65 and ’66, I was indeed fortunate to finally catch a run with one. This 29-year-old Darlington-built locomotive was withdrawn that September.

  With both of us being railwaymen you would have thought that we could have read timetables with an element of accuracy. However, resulting from a foul-up of some sort, having travelled via Leeds to Wakefield, we became stranded for an hour at Wakefield’s Kirkgate station. This station was opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway Company in 1840 and until 1867, upon the opening of Wakefield’s other station at Westgate, was the only one for the city. Always the poorer relation from then on, the station had by the time of our visit an air of neglect about it – not helped by many panes missing from the ‘nearly’ overall roof. It was to be completely removed six years later, presumably resulting from its perilous condition. Often in the news in respect of vandalism and other antisocial activities, a royal visit by Prince Charles (who rededicated Britannia 70013 Oliver Cromwell there) during 2012 kickstarted a multimillion-pound improvement scheme. Once again, making the most of the situation, out came the camera to capture the parade of Austerity WD 2-8-0s passing through or stopping for water/crew change working a seemingly endless procession of lengthy freight services.

  Returning to that Friday, 13 May 1966, resulting from an error in timetable reading we became ‘stranded’ at Wakefield for several hours, so out came the camera to capture the scenes, the next eight pictures all being taken on that day. At Wakefield Kirkgate we see WD 2-8-0 90099 waiting signals for the road to Wakefield shed (56A). She was withdrawn when her home shed of Goole closed in June 1967.

  A seemingly continuous stream of steam-hauled freight trains passed through Wakefield Kirkgate during the hour we were there that day. Here North-British-built 8F 90407 heads westwards with a lengthy load. Withdrawal came from her home shed of Wakefield a year later.

  Regaining the footplate having contacted the signalman, presumably asking for the road to the shed, Wakefield’s WD 90642 awaits the signal. This 1944 Vulcan Foundry (Newton-le-Willows) built locomotive was to be transferred to Normanton, being withdrawn from there in September 1967.

  An artefact from a bygone age: instructions for ‘visiting’ engine men from ‘foreign’ depots at the dilapidated Wakefield Kirkgate station.

  One of Normanton’s two Fairburn tanks, 1951 Brighton-built 42083 wanders into Wakefield Kirkgate with a lightweight van service. Even though she lasted until the October 1967 cull I never caught up with her!

  Holbeck-allocated 4MT 43130 struggles to start a heavy ECS up the incline out of Leeds Central. This Horwich-built 15-year-old locomotive was withdrawn in July 1967. A point of interest not realised until researching for this book is the wagon hoist in the background – all that remains today of the site.

  Waiting her next turn of duty at Leeds City is Derby-built 18-year-old Fairburn 4MT 42196. Then allocated to Neville Hill, she was transferred to Low Moor (thus allowing me to catch her on a Bradford Exchange portion) upon 55H’s closure to steam the following month.

  Returning to Leeds for the 16 10 Cleethorpes departure only to find it formed of a two-car ‘bog cart’ (a despised all-too-common hybrid – neither locomotive nor coaches and officially classified as a DMU) rather than the expected B1 (Railway World magazine subsequently reported the train as having been dieselised four weeks previously!) we, at last after nine steamless hours, finally achieved success on the 16 45 Leeds Central to Doncaster – Holbeck’s 44852 working this train that day. Little did we realise at the time that this working was the last steam-operated passenger service into the Eastern Region – Doncaster (36A) being the final ER steam shed and closing the following month.

  Roger’s book of steam passenger workings, although having unintentionally misled us throughout the day, was now proving instrumental to our movements. By boarding the rear coaches of the 16 20 Kings Cross to Leeds Central at Doncaster, upon arrival at Wakefield Westgate the Bradford Exchange portion was detached and worked forward the 17 miles by Holyhead allocated Black 5 44770. This was my first trip on one of the Bradford portions – a note in my book testifying ‘the line was chock-a-block with steam’. I was soon to realise that these trains were to become an essential ingredient to sate a haulage devotee’s appetite for new catches on many further visits to the area.

  As it was my first visit into Bradford Exchange station, a location that perhaps because of its varied steam powered services became a firm favourite of mine, a further brief history lesson is due. This was the second station in Bradford, being opened four years later (1850) than its Midland Railway counterpart as a joint enterprise betw
een the Lancashire and Yorkshire and Great Northern Railways. In 1867 the Leeds, Bradford & Halifax Joint Railway, which had previously used the nearby Adolphus Street terminus, joined the melee by building a connecting link. Proving inadequate for purpose, in 1880 it was completely rebuilt – the ten-platformed terminus being christened Exchange after the nearby wool exchange – and was equipped with two arched roofs and classical Corinthian columns down the centre, next to which the Great Victoria hotel was erected. Jubilees, B1s, LMS tanks, LMS Moguls, Black 5s – they could all be counted upon to put in an appearance on a summer Saturday. To me, being a relatively small terminus, it epitomised the steam era, with locomotives often standing at buffer stops for lengthy periods and with their steam and smoke entrapped under the sooty, grimy train shed roof the station just simply oozed atmosphere. If only I could have canned some!

  Contributing to the scenario immediately outside the station was a 1-in-50 incline. This meant locomotives having to work hard straightaway upon departure, indeed the lengthy summer Saturday services bound for the East and West coastal resorts required banking locomotives to Bowling Junction, and, as a result of the original tunnel being cut away to provide room for the doubling of tracks, the high walls either side amplified their exertions wonderfully.

  A late evening shot of Low Moor’s B1 61014 Oribi being prepared in the locomotive sidings at Bradford Exchange to work the 21 25 portion for Wakefield Westgate (en route to Kings Cross). Naively walking over to Forster Square for a tank trip into Leeds, I missed the opportunity to travel with her – she being transferred away to Blyth that August from where this 1946 Darlington-built locomotive was withdrawn four months later.

  In 1973, traffic having fallen away, the station was rebuilt 50 yards south and on the site of the closed Bridge Street goods depot – subsequently being renamed Bradford Interchange in 1983 as a more representative description of its purpose as a transport hub. From the 1970s, for many years, BR considered there was insufficient demand warranting through services to London – a situation benefitting from privatisation with the Grand Central train operating company rectifying the situation in 2010. Back to 1966 and naively ignoring B1 61014 Oribi (an opportunity lost – she was transferred away to Blyth that August and withdrawn four months later) being prepared to work the 21 25 portion for Wakefield, we took the short walk (although the current relocated stations are further apart, a proposed tram/train link connecting both with Leeds/Bradford airport is being actively considered) over to Forster Square and headed back to Leeds with, by changing en route at Shipley, runs with two further examples of Fairburn tanks. This was becoming an increasingly successful junket – or so we convinced ourselves!

  Many changes, to the detriment of steam chasers, had taken place when the summer timetable had commenced on 18 April that year. The Leeds/Morecambe services had gone DMU, the last Harrogate to diesel locomotive (DL) and, more relevant to where we were that night, the Aberystwyth/York TPO, previously worked by a stud of LMR-allocated Brits west of Leeds had also gone DL. Why relevant? For overnight accommodation that night we had calculatingly travelled west to the then incumbent prime minister’s (Harold Wilson) birthplace of Huddersfield to board the eastbound TPO, thus giving us at least two hours on board a warm comfortable train. Before departing Leeds we noted Jubilee 45647 Sturdee simmering tantalisingly facing north – perhaps to work our train forward to York? Not so – English Electric Type 4 ‘Long Pong’ D353 worked through. The self-explanatory nickname to these DLs was one given by steam followers, the more common perhaps being ‘Whistler’ – a reference to the noise emanating from the sound of their turbocharger. A total of 400 of these machines had been built and, having displaced steam over the WCML, were now, resulting from electrification south of Crewe, themselves homeless and were to be found anywhere throughout the LMR and ER/NER regions.

  With the option of a long cold wait at Leeds before the daytime services commenced, there was no alternative other than staying aboard to York. What luck we did as Sturdee must have worked to York on a preceding parcels/van train and had been turned to work back to Leeds on the 04 35 departure – with us aboard! I had never heard of Farnley Junction, where she was allocated and hadn’t a clue as to its location, but, with only a mere dozen Jubilees remaining in the country, I cared not – an appreciative redlined entry in my book was enough! After sleepless nights, trying to second-guess moves, missed connections, abortive journeys – a catch such as this made it all worthwhile. The light was just about good enough upon arriving into Leeds at 05 15 for a (poor quality) shot of her – just to prove indisputably that not only did I travel with Sturdee but as a confirmatory piece of evidence of the insanity of our chosen hobby.

  The following five photographs were all taken during our activities on the next day, Saturday 14 May 1966. Ever the nocturnal traveller, it’s 05 15 in the morning and LMS Stanier-designed 6P5F Jubilee 45647 Sturdee rests from her labours having arrived into Leeds City with the 04 35 from York. A total of 189 of these 4-6-0s were built, Sturdee herself at Crewe in 1935. Allocated to Farnley Junction, she was transferred to Holbeck upon its closure that November – being withdrawn in April 1967.

  After that pleasing catch our luck returned to normal and, having trekked over to Hull for what Roger had shown in his book as B1 operated service, the 08 55 Hull to Doncaster was added to the list of steam casualties! With no alternative we travelled on it (D1516) and returned to Wakefield once again for what we knew was guaranteed steam on the Bradford portions. Or was it? Nothing could be taken for granted during those dying days of steam. Displaced DLs from elsewhere could have been sent to the area. Fortune, however, favours the brave and gratifyingly the portions turned up trumps with two LNER B1s (neither seeing the year out) and a Fairburn tank being caught over a period of six hours. That might not seem many for such a lengthy period of time but during a two-hour wait at Wakefield in the mid afternoon, never missing an excuse for an extra steam run, we squeezed in an 11-mile trip down the line to the 100-year-old ex-West Riding and Grimsby Joint Line station of South Elmsall – on a service we knew was steam-operated, having caught it the previous day – with Holbeck’s 44853 on the Doncaster train. This completed a run of three consecutively numbered Black 5s 44852/3/4 – gloatingly redlined upon returning home! And so ended a run of twelve required locomotives.

  Fairburn 42142, built at Derby in 1950, departs Wakefield Westgate at 12 15 with the Bradford Exchange portion of the 09 25 Kings Cross to Leeds Central. We had not travelled with her for two reasons: 1) she was booked to return from Bradford at 15 05 (which we hoped to catch); and 2) a far superior requirement had been seen arriving from Wakefield shed (B1 61386) in readiness for the next portion departure at 13 41. Initially allocated to St Albans, she was to spend twelve years in Scotland before being withdrawn from her home shed of Low Moor just five weeks later.

  North British 1943-built WD 90200 storms up the gradient into Wakefield Westgate on a freight they were most at home on – coal. This Wakefield-allocated 2-8-0 was transferred to Sunderland from where she was withdrawn in July 1967.

  The aforementioned Low-Moor-allocated B1 4-6-0 61386 at Bradford Exchange having worked the 17 miles from Wakefield Westgate with the three-coach portion off the 10 20 from Kings Cross. These portions were a godsend in respect of catching runs with this LNER class of steam locomotives, and the sporadic successes in catching them made the long trek north worthwhile. She was transferred to Blyth three months later from where she was withdrawn in December 1966.

  Vulcan Foundry 1947-built B1 61161 at Bradford Exchange with the 21 25 portion for Wakefield Westgate. Having noted the previous day this train was B1-operated, we changed our plans to catch her on the inwards working – the 18 25 portion ex-Wakefield. She, like the majority of B1s in the West Riding, was withdrawn in December that year.

  A perfect example depicting the dirt ridden grimy scenario associated with the steam age. An undated shot of the lineup of a Black 5 and two Fairburn tanks at Bradf
ord Exchange. (Alan (Nobby) Hayes)

  Extract from notebook.

  The football specials from London had yet to arrive back in Yorkshire that FA Cup day – Everton having beaten Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 at Wembley. However, all still peaceful at Bradford Exchange and having somewhat surprisingly witnessed Jubilee 45694 Bellerophon arriving in there on a Wakefield portion earlier that evening we somehow ascertained that she was booked back out on the 22 00 Huddersfield one-coach departure – overpowered or what!

  After forty-eight hours together, Paul and I parted company. Although we both wanted a run with her, Paul decided it was worth the lengthy wait – the result of which meant heading home from Manchester over the WCML into Euston. Taking into consideration that the closure of the ex-GC line into Marylebone had been announced, I opted for an earlier return journey south on the 22 50 Manchester Central/Marylebone train. The attraction of collecting two further runs with steam, i.e. Manchester to Guide Bridge and Leicester Central to Woodford Halse, was, in my opinion, of greater persuasion. This was an occasion where we steam followers sometimes differed in our needs – I am unable to put into print what Paul said when, the following month, we caught Bellerophon out of Blackpool! As an aside for the football aficionados among the readers that year Liverpool were the 1st division champions, Manchester City the 2nd, Hull City the 3rd and Doncaster Rovers the 4th.